What is the controversy about? The Catholic Church suffered a body blow in Chile in 2010 when Father Karadima was publicly accused of molesting several teenaged boys in the capital, Santiago, starting in the 1980s.

in 2011 the Vatican found him guilty of abusing teenage boys and sentenced to a lifetime of “penance and prayer”.

He never faced criminal prosecution in Chile as too much time had passed, but the judge who heard victims’ testimony in a year-long investigation described them as “truthful and reliable”.

Mr Cruz says that Bishop Barros was present when Father Karadima – then the bishop’s mentor – kissed and groped him and another boy.

While Bishop Barros has not been accused of abuse, the Pope has been criticised for appointing him bishop of Osorno in 2015. Barros’s ordination ceremony had to be cut short over protests in the cathedral.